This invention relates to an improved trailer system for hauling and delivering automotive exhaust system parts, such as mufflers, bent and straight pipes and the like, from central warehouse locations to dispersed installation shops. Over a period of time, the parts which form the exhaust system of an automotive vehicle require replacement because these parts become damaged in use, rust out, or otherwise become unserviceable. Consequently, it is common to replace the exhaust system, or parts of an exhaust system, at after-market installation shops or automotive vehicle service garages or, in some cases, by the owner of the vehicle who purchases the necessary parts at a supply store. The invention of this application relates to a system for delivering the necessary parts to such installation shops, garages or supply stores.
Vehicle exhaust systems generally comprise exhaust tubes, mufflers, tail pipes, pollution control devices, and various fittings, hangers, or supports, and the like. It is customary for the suppliers of these parts to warehouse them after they are manufactured and to deliver them to the points of installation or to the stores for availability to the consumers. This is espcially true in the case of chain installation centers which basically are dedicated to the repair and replacement of exhaust systems. The delivery of the parts from the warehouses to the installation sites is basically accomplished by delivery trucks. In many cases, these trucks are large, over-the-road vehicles having large trailers towed by long-distance tractors. Thus, a central warehouse, which contains an inventory of automotive vehicle parts for different kinds of vehicles, may serve as the supply center for widely-dispersed installation or distribution sites. Consequently, it is common to load the large, over-the-road trailers with parts to be delivered at a number of different sites along a single, long distance delivery run. The amount of goods which these trailers can carry, particularly where a large number of different orders to be shipped on a single run, and, more importantly, the amount of time and the amount of labor needed for unloading the specific orders at each of the sites, are important features in the costs of the goods. In addition, because delivery to individual sites has typically taken considerable time and labor, it has been necessary to use numerous smaller warehouses interspersed within relatively small delivery areas, rather than to use larger warehouses servicing very much larger areas.
Where deliveries of partial loads are made to separate sites along a single run, the unloading of the order at each site is a problem because of the need for considerable labor. Thus, the delivery, for example, of a single order containing a number of parts to a single installation shop, has required a number of people for unloading the goods from the truck and carrying them to their use or storage places. However, small installation shops or relatively small stores typically do not have adequate personnel for unloading. Thus, the regular personnel must be used to unload. These must be taken away from their regular duties. Thus, frequently they cannot be used while they are otherwise occupied, and therefore, time must be spent in waiting until they are available for unloading work. Moreover, because of the lack of unloading docks at most delivery sites, the delivered parts must be manually handled to get them out of the trailer and into the delivery location. That increases the unloading time and the amount of labor needed.
It is common, because the wide variety of automotive vehicles which have been produced in the past and which from time to time need exhaust tubing, to utilize straight tubes which are bent into the required configuration during use at the installation site. That is, it is not feasible for an installation shop to maintain a complete inventory of pre-bent tubing for each of the numerous automotive vehicles available. Hence, a large amount of straight tubing is kept at installation shops and is bent by the installers at the time of installation when pre-bent tubing is not on hand. The delivery of such straight tubing with pre-bent tubing, mufflers, catalytic converters, hardware, and the like, has presented a delivery problem because hauling small quantities of straight tubing interferes with fully loading a delivery trailer. The problem arises because straight tubing is too long to fit crosswise in a regular road trailer and is typically shipped in bundles of tubes, which are tied together with strapping. Thus, the bundles of tubes must be arranged longitudinally within the trailer. Bundling the tubes together helps to protect them against being crushed or broken during shipment. However, to avoid excessive forces upon the tubing, the bundles within the trailer may not be stacked beyond a relatively low height, as for example, less than two feet. However, a typical trailer may have an interior height of roughly eight feet so that the space above the bundles is unused. Further, because the bundles of tubing occupy space along the interior length of the trailer, containers of the other parts are difficult to arrange and stack to utilize the full height and width of the trailer. As a result, the amount of material that can be carried by the trailer in a single load which includes bundles of straight tubing, is limited.
A typical trailer can handle considerably more weight than is provided by the volume of exhaust system parts that can be fitted within the trailer box when straight tubing must be carried along with other parts. Hence, there has been a need for a system by which larger quantities of straight tubing and other exhaust system parts can be carried together in one trailer load without the tubes reducing the quantity of other parts that can be carried in that one load. In addition, there has been a need for a system for packing and hauling a full load of automotive exhaust system parts in which portions of the load may be rapidly unloaded at disbursed delivery sites by the driver, alone, or with his assistant, without the need to use local, installation site personnel for unloading.
This invention relates to an improved system by which the load carried on a single delivery run may be substantially increased, by as much as a third more, and yet, the goods may be unloaded at the delivery site, by a driver, in a matter of minutes.